The Art of Getting Revenge
by Kalira423
Summary: FINISHED Some one is out to get revenge on Ryo. And they plan on using his girlfriend, Sakura, to do it.
1. 1 Interuptions

Disclaimer: as I'm sure you all know I do not own Ronin Warriors, but I do own all the original characters in this story.  Now that that is out of the way, on with the story.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

This is the sequel to Destiny's Warrior. If you haven't read that please read it first. Or things in this story might get confusing. 

A loud battle cry ripped through the air as Ryo ran out of the forest. 'All right where is she' he thought as he looked around the clearing.  

"I have you now." A girl yelled as she jumped out of her perch in the tree sword raised to attack.

Ryo quickly brought his sword up to block her attack. He pushed her sword away and swung at her hand. The girl quickly dodged the blow and parried his attack. The two went at it blocking the others attack then making their own.  They swung their swords with such force that they both flew out of their hands, With out a weapon the two fighter locked hands and pushed testing the others strength.  Ryo easily had the advantage of being stronger over the girl.

"I have to think of something quick,' she thought. 'He's stronger than I am and if we keep this up, I'm defiantly going to lose.' Then an idea quickly flashed through her mind.  Getting an evil smirk on her face she quickly leaned in and gave Ryo an assertive kiss on the lips.  Ryo, not thinking, leaned into the kiss relaxing his arms giving the female just enough time to quickly pull away and knock his feet from under him, landing him flat on his back. Ryo stared up at the sky in shock that he had just lost when a pretty smiling face appeared in front of him. 

"Need any help?" she asked kindly as she held out her hand to help Ryo up. 

Ryo frowned and pushed her hand away. "Hey, Sakura, that's not fair." He said as he stood up brushing himself off.

"Of course it is." Sakura said with a giggle. "All's fair in love and war." She said smiling at him. 

"No its not." Ryo said staring at her with his arms crossed. He was more upset with the fact that he had lost their little training session than her tactics, but why not make her fret a little.

Sakura seeing the upset look on his face moved closer to him and put her arms around his neck. 

"I'm sorry," she said. 

Ryo smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. It was hard to stay mad at her. He couldn't even pretend to be for long. 

"If you want, I know a way I can make it up to you. Wildfire." Sakura added softly as she slowly leaned in for another kiss. 

"RYO!" A voice said interrupting their kiss. 

"I'm busy, Yulie." He answered as he tried to continue the kiss when the little boy appeared.

"But, Ryo, it's an emergency." Yulie whined.

Ryo sighed, "All right," he yelled. "Forgive me?" he questioned Sakura.

She smiled at him, "Don't I always." She said as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "We can finish later." She added softly as she let go of him and went to retrieve her sword. Ryo stared at her retreating back a while longer before Yulie grabbed his hand. "We have to hurry." He said as he dragged Ryo towards the city. Sakura smiled and headed for the house. Whatever was wrong it must not be too bad if Talon hadn't come directly to her. Ryo could probably handle it himself. 'Still,' she thought to herself. 'Why couldn't Yulie have gotten someone else' she thought thinking of their interrupted kiss. 

Unknown to Sakura and Ryo, their entire training session had been watched by a crow sitting in the trees.  It was wearing a glowing green medallion. When the bird saw the two separate, it took off into the air its mission complete.  


	2. 2 the non robbery

The crow flew high over the trees the medallion still hanging from its neck.  The bird flew until it reached the shadow lands where it perched on top of tree surveying the surroundings.  Everything was desolate, because the Shadow lands never got much sun, hence the name Shadow lands. The bird looked until it found what it was looking for, a young woman dressed in black.  The crow flew over to her and landed on her shoulder.  

"I was wondering when you were going to return." The woman said to the crow. Removing the medallion from the crow, she clenched it tightly in her hand. 

"I better go return this to your master." She said. "You can do whatever you wish for the rest of the day." 

The crow, his duty accomplished, took off from her shoulder and flew towards the Ronin lands. The blond haired woman holding the medallion quickly turned and started to walk away quickly disappearing into the mists that were now covering the land.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sakura saw Ryo trudging up the path before he saw her.  Walking out the house she went out to greet him.

"What was it this time?" she asked him. 

Ryo sighed wearily, "Another robbery. That's all."

"Must have been a pretty big robbery for Yulie to think that your expertise was needed," she said jokingly. 

"Funny," he answered. "It really wasn't that big. Just a couple of low class thieves breaking into a jewelry store." He said as the walked towards the house.

As they stepped into the house they were greeted by Sage, Kento, Cale, and Dais.  They were sprawled in front of the TV watching the news.

"Hey Ryo, just saw ya on the tube." Kento said indicating the news report on the robbery.

"Great." Ryo said falsely as he plopped down on the sofa next to Cale. 

"So how was it?" Sage asked him, clicking off the TV.

"Nothing really that big." Ryo answered. "But there was something funny about the robbery though." He said thinking about it. 

"What was that?" Kento asked curiously.

"It wasn't even a robbery; not really, it was more of a breaking and entering." He said.

"Maybe they didn't get a chance to steal anything before you came and stopped it." Sakura suggested finding a seat on the sofa next to Ryo.

"No, they were about to leave before I got there. It was almost like they were looking for something." Ryo said puzzled. 

"That's the fourth one this month." Said Mia entering through the kitchen door, followed by Anubis and Cye.

"But who breaks into a jewelry store and doesn't take any jewels?" Cye asked.

"Apparently someone not looking for jewelry." Anubis answered sarcastically.

"Thank you Captain Obvious." Cye retorted good naturedly.

"But something doesn't make sense to me." Sakura said. "If they were just looking for something, why go through the trouble of breaking in and risk getting caught? And in broad daylight?" 

"Maybe they did take something." Dais suggested.

By now the entire group was in the living room discussing the mysterious robberies.  

"But the police asked the manager if anything was missing and he said everything was accounted for." Sage said. 

"It doesn't make sense." Mia said. Just then Kero followed by White Blaze came bounding into the room. 

"Kero! No!" Sakura demanded, but the large tiger headed right for her and jumped on her lap and started licking her face.

"Kero!" her muffled voice from under him yelled. "Get off you heavy thing!" with a great heave she managed to get him off. "Now what was that all about, you have my attention now." Sakura asked petting his head. Kero purred his contentment and lay down at her feet. Sakura laughed, "You when you want attention" she said. "You need to behave more like White Blaze." She admonished as Kero fell asleep on her feet. The group laughed at Kero's antics and Sakura felt a surge of happiness. It was great that they were all living under one roof. She, Ryo, the other Ronins, and the Warlords, plus Mia and an occasional visit from Yulie made a total of twelve people in one house.  Sure she wished that she and Ryo could get a little privacy every now and then, away from the teasing eyes of the others and occasional jealous looks from Dais, who still had a crush on her, but she wouldn't trade it for anything. The clock chimed six as they got up to prepare dinner. Sakura and Ryo stayed on the couch as he put his arm around her shoulders.  

"So," he whispered in her ear. "When do we get to finish our session?" he asked.

Sakura smiled as she turned to face him. "Do you mean the training or the kiss?" 

"I think you know which one I mean." He said as he leaned in closer. 

"Guys, you coming?" Cye's voice called from the kitchen.

Ryo leaned his head back on the couch and sighed aggravated. 

Sakura laughed, "Apparently it's not time to finish it yet." She said as she stood up and pulled Ryo to his feet. 

"Fine, but we are going to finish." He warned. 

Sakura's eyes sparkled mischievously, "can't wait." She said as they headed towards the kitchen.


	3. 3 water fight

The rest of the week went pretty normally.  They got an occasional call from Talon or Artemis who had seen a robbery or some other crime committed and told the group about. They were able to help stop most of the crimes. But other than that it was pretty uneventful. It was a bright sunny morning when Ryo saw Sakura outside sitting in a tree. Walking underneath the branch he called up to her.

"Hey, what are ya doing up there?"

Sakura looked down and smiled. "Just sitting and thinking, wanna join me?"

Ryo climbed up the to the branch she was sitting on and sat next to her. "This answer your question?"

Sakura nodded and looked out at the view again.

"So what were ya thinking about way up here?' Ryo prodded.

Sakura smiled slyly, "Oh, just this guy I know." 

"Really? Anyone I might know?" he asked confident he already knew the answer.

"You could say that." She said.

"What's he look like?" Ryo asked enjoying the game.

"Well, he has black hair, and the most gorgeous blue eyes I have ever seen." She commented.

"Oh," Ryo said intrigued. "And um... what else?" he prodded.

"Well, he has a tiger like mine, and he also has an armor like mine." Sakura answered confident he knew she was talking about him.

"You wouldn't by any chance mean me would ya?" he asked slyly.

"Maybe I am, maybe not. You'll have to catch me to find out." She said as she quickly jumped out of the tree and ran through the forest.

Ryo gave her a five second head start and took off after her. Sakura heard Ryo behind her and ran faster, but not so that he couldn't keep up. Sakura ran until she got to the river and hid up a tree watching Ryo come to a halt and look for her. Sakura jumped quietly out of the tree and snuck behind him. Ryo looked across the river trying to find her when he felt a push against his back and he went flying into the water.  He surfaced to find Sakura laughing hysterically at him.  

"Hey," he said in mock fury. "That wasn't funny." He said swimming to the shore, but not getting out. 

"Yeah, it was." Sakura said laughing. 

"Fine, since you got me in here, you have to help me get out," he said with a mischievous glint in his eye. Sakura held out her hand to help him up.  Ryo grabbed it and pulled her into the water.  Sakura came up spluttering. 

"Ryo, I can't believe you just did that!" she said splashing him with water.

" I can't believe you just fell for that," Ryo shot back as he held up his hands to block the wave of water. " And besides you started it." He pointed out.

Sakura looked sideways at him before giggling, "Yeah, I guess I did, huh?"

Ryo nodded knowingly as they both got out of the river soaking wet.  Ryo gave a quick glance at Sakura out of the side of his eye. Her wet clothes showed of her to die for figure and he gave her an appreciative glance. Sakura looked up and caught him looking at her, blushed, and looked at her shoes; but not before giving his muscular chest a glance through his wet clothes. The two wrung out the excess water and sat down next to each other on the bank drying off in the sun. 

"So you were talking about me back when we were in the tree right?" Ryo asked looking at her.

Sakura laughed, "Who else would I be talking about?" 

"So you really think I have gorgeous blue eyes?" he asked as he looked into her golden ones.

"Yeah" she answered as the two leaned forward when "Hey, Sakura!" 

Ryo let out a growl of frustration, "Even out here they find us and of course they couldn't come at a worse time." He muttered as they turned to look at the intruder. 

"What is it Cale?" Cale oblivious to the fact that he had walked in at a tender moment came into view. 

"Mia is going to the store and she needs your help." He said.

"I'll be right there." She said as Cale turned to leave.

"Sorry, Ryo, gotta go help her." Sakura said as she prepared to stand up.

Ryo grabbed her hand and pulled her back down and whispered in her ear. "We are going to finish this later." He said as he let her go. 

Sakura smiled and gave him a peck on the lips, "can't wait." She said as she walked off. Ryo laid back down on the grassy bank and watched a crow fly over head. 'That bird looks familiar,' he thought, but quickly dismissed it from his mind as he sat up and returned to the house.  


	4. 4 lovers spat

The next morning Ryo was sitting alone in the backyard. It was one of the rare times when he was the only person in the house.  Everyone else had gone out somewhere and Sakura was to be back any minute.  Ryo sat down on the bench that Mia had put there a while ago and thought about yesterday's water war with Sakura. He smiled to himself thinking of the way she had looked with her wet clothes plastered to her, and of their almost kiss. 'Then of course, someone has to come up and demand her attention.' He thought grumpily.  It had been that way for a while now.  It seemed like his friends saw more of his girlfriend than he did. And it really bugged him. 'But not today,' he thought smugly. He knew that Sakura had gone to check out how things were going at her late father's castle and would be back any second.  He also knew that the others had said that they wouldn't be back till later that day. This left a perfect opportunity for him and Sakura to finally get their alone time. 

"I'm home," came Sakura's reply as she walked into the empty house.

Ryo smiled to himself and went inside to find her. 

"Hey Ryo," she said brightly as she sat down on the love seat. "Where is everyone?" she asked.

Ryo sat down next to her. "They went out; they said they would be back later today." 

Sakura shrugged, "Cool," she said as she got up and went into the kitchen. She opened to refrigerator and got out a carton of milk. She then went to the cupboard and got a glass.

"Hey Ryo," she hollered. "Want anything to drink while I'm up?" she asked.

"No thanks," came the soft reply in her ear.

Startled she turned around to find Ryo right behind her grinning.

"Ryo, don't you know that you aren't supposed to sneak up on people?" She scolded good naturedly. 

"Yeah, but its so much fun." He said smiling.

"But if I had thought that you were a burglar, I could have hurt you." She said teasing.

Ryo scoffed, 'Please, you couldn't hurt a fly."

Sakura turned to face him with a challenging glint in her golden eyes. "You don't think I can?" 

"No" he said crossing his arms.

"Fine, guess I'll just have to prove it to you." She said as she stared a wrestling match.  The two wrestled their way into the living room. Sakura soon ended up being pinned against the wall Ryo's hands on either side of her head with a smug grin on his face.

"Fine, I concede, you win." She said.

"What to take as my prize?" he pretended to think "Oh yes, you have to give a kiss to the winner."

"If I must." She teased as she leaned forward to give Ryo his prize when 

BEEP BEEP BEEP…

"Oh No!" Sakura said glancing at her watch. "It's two o'clock! I promised Mia that I would help her with something at her work!" she said breaking away from Ryo's imprisonment. 

Ryo face showed his annoyance 'not again!' he thought. 'Even when they aren't here they occupy her attention.' Sakura was about to hurry out the door when she saw Ryo's expression. "Ryo, what's wrong?" she asked concerned.

"Nothing," He replied testily. 

"Don't lie to me, I know you well enough to tell when something is wrong." She said walking over to him.

"How can you? Your never around." He said hotly.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked confused. "I'm around you right now. And I was with you all yesterday and the day before that."

"But you didn't stay, and now your about to leave again." Ryo yelled his frustration growing.

"I promised Mia that I would help her with something, and she needed my help yesterday also." Sakura said wondering what he was so upset about.

"You see, my friends see more of you than I do." He said.

"That's not true, Ryo" she said indignant. "I see you a lot more than them." 

"Really," Ryo asked in mock humility. "When we were doing our training session, you had to leave, yesterday you had to leave, and today when we are finally alone, you have to leave. I thought that you were _my girlfriend, not everyone else's." _

"Ok, it was _you_ that Yulie called away during the training," Sakura angrily pointed out, "And I am your girlfriend, but that doesn't mean that you get to occupy all of my time." 

"Well if I'm going to be such a time monger maybe we shouldn't be going out." Ryo yelled angrily.

Sakura step back as if he had slapped her as tears threatened to spill out of her eyes. "Are you breaking up with me?"

Ryo saw the hurt look in her eyes and was instantly sorry that he had even thought about that, but he was too frustrated and aggravated to let it drop. "Well since I'm just consuming all of your time I guess I am. I'll go find another girl who doesn't think that my friends are more important than me."

"Then I guess I'll find someone who doesn't think that he's the center of the earth!" Sakura retorted her eyes brimming with tears. 

"Why don't you go ask Dais to be your boyfriend, I bet he'll be happy!" Ryo said. He instantly he could take back what he just said, because he had struck a tender nerve. Sakura had been really conscious of the fact that Dais still had a thing for her and it bothered her immensely.  She constantly fretted about how he felt about her going out with Ryo. Sakura eyes flashed dangerously as the tears she had been holding back spilled over and ran down her cheeks. "Fine! If that's the way you want it." And with that she stormed out the door. 

Ryo ran to the door. "Fine!" he yelled at her having to get the final word in as he turned and strode into the back yard, not noticing the crow that flew away after surveying the fight.


	5. 5 crystals, robberies, and blackouts

The crow flew fast towards the Shadow lands intent on delivering this new development to his master.  The same woman who had greeted the crow last time was already waiting there.  The bird circled around her and then perched on her outstretched arm.  

"So Faust, what news do you bring us today?" the blond haired woman asked as she again removed the glowing green medallion. Holding it upright in her hand she concentrated on it when a holographic image of the two warriors fighting appeared.  The woman watched the two bicker with increasing interest, her smile growing wider as the holographic Sakura ran out the door tears in her eyes. 

"This will make a certain someone very pleased." She said as the image disappeared. "Thank you Faust, you have done your job well," she said petting the crow. The two then turned and vanished out of sight.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sakura stopped running as she reached the edge of the forest that surrounded Mia's house. She fell to her knees sobbing. How could Ryo do this to her? What had she done to make him so upset with her? Sakura's sobs soon subsided as she stood up and headed for the nearby city.  She's just go talk to Mia, she had asked for her help anyway. Sakura dried her face and made her way along the edge of the forest until she soon saw the city in view. She was heading down there when a howl from Artemis reached her ears. 

"Artemis?" she gasped as the grey wolf ran next to her. Using her magic to speak to him she found out that there was another robbery. She was just about to go when Sage appeared out of the forest followed by Draco. 

"I'm assuming that there is something wrong in the city." Sage guessed as they started towards the city.

Sakura nodded, "Yes, Artemis and Draco say that there is another robbery. We'd better hurry." And the two climbed on Draco's back and rushed to the scene of the crime.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Meanwhile Ryo was mentally kicking himself for what he had said to Sakura. 'I'm such an idiot!' he thought. 'Why did I yell at her? It's not like it's her fault that everyone needs her help. I'll just have to make it up to her' he thought as Kento, Dais, Cale, Anubis, and Cye entered the front door. 

"Hey Ryo, what's up with you?" Kento asked noticing his upset expression. 

Ryo shook his head, "Nothing," he said. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sage and Sakura had just made it to the scene of the crime when two men dressed in black burst out of a jewelry store.  'It's another jewelry store robbery' Sakura thought as Draco swooped down over them.  Sage and Sakura jumped off his back and began chasing the two thieves.  The two noticed they were being chased and ran harder.  One tripped on a rock and fell. His partner quickly helped him up right as Sage and Sakura caught up to them.  

"Excuse me, but I don't think that belongs to you." Sakura quipped as the two thieves spun around to see Sage and Sakura drawing closer to them. 

The two thieves smiled knowingly at each other as one took out a small ball from his pocket and threw it on the ground at Sage's feet. The ball issued smoke and temporarily blinded them.

"It's a smoke bomb," Sage coughed. Sakura summoned her use of the wind and blew the smoke out of their faces, but it was too late. The thieves were gone. 

"Where could they have gone?" Sakura asked looking from left to right.  

"They couldn't have gone far." Sage said. "Let's split up, you go that way, I'll go this way."

Sakura nodded as they tool off in separate directions. Sakura was about to head another way when something glinted out of the corner of her eye. Turning around she picked up a small piece of quartz crystal, cut into the shape of a prism.  'This must be what they were after. I bet this is what they stole from those other stores too.' Pocketing the crystal she headed out of the city and into the forest.  Talon had found Kero and they were now close at her heels.  She stopped short as she came to the forest.  Sakura sat with the her back up against the tree and took out the crystal.  'What could they want with this little thing?' she wondered. Sakura shrugged and put the crystal back into her pocket.  She leaned her head against the tree when she heard a twig snap. Becoming alert Sakura looked around. 

"Sage?" she called. 

"Afraid not, pretty girl." Came a cold voice. Sakura instantly got on her feet and faced her intruder. 

"What do you want?" she asked.

"You" came the menacing reply as a hand appeared behind her to cover her mouth. Sakura sensed the hand and dodged out of the way. She turned and found that she was surrounded. Sakura tried to fend them off, but she was outnumbered and quickly overpowered then everything went black.


	6. 6 missing

Sakura moaned as she slowly came to.  She looked around at her surroundings.  She was in a jail cell lying on a dark and dank floor.  Next to her was a chained Talon and Kero. Kero, noticing she was awake came and licked her face. Sakura scratched his head. Standing up she looked around the cell.

"Where are we?" she asked out loud.  

"In my master's castle." Came the answer. Sakura squinted trying to make out who was talking to her.  It was a blond woman; on her shoulder was a black crow.  

Sakura looked at her through the bars.  She had medium length blond hair and blue eyes.  She was about her height and was wearing dark robes.  

"Why am I here?" Sakura asked. "And who are you?"

"My name is Alanna." she said. "And this is Faust." she added pointing to the crow.  "You are here because my master demands it."

"And why is my presence demanded?" Sakura asked, "And how long have I been unconscious?" 

"You have been unconscious for about one day." Alanna said smirking.  "And as to your other question, you will find out soon enough."

With that Alanna turned and swept out of the room the crow perched on her shoulder.

"Wait, I'm not finished yet." Sakura called after her, but she was already out of hearing distance. 

"Well I guess I am then." She said as she sat down in between Talon and Kero. She picked up the chains that held them to the floor.  "Lets see if we can't find a way to get these off." And with that she started trying to break them loose.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ryo was beside himself with worry when Sakura didn't come home later that day.  He got even more worried when he heard what happened that day from Sage. 

"She went one way and I went the other, we were going to come right back here after that." Sage said.

"She should have been back by now. Why did you let her go off on her own?" Ryo yelled pacing the room. The entire group was in the living room trying to calm Ryo down.  He had been pacing for over an hour. 

"Ryo," Sekmet said encouragingly. "Sakura is a big girl and a Ronin warrior; I think she is more than qualified to take care of herself."

"But what if she was out numbered?" Ryo asked worriedly.

"We don't even know if she was kidnapped." Cye pointed out.  "And again, Sakura is one of our best fighters; she wouldn't be taken by surprise that easily.

"She may not be kidnapped, but what if she's hurt and can't get home, or lying unconscious in a valley, or…" Ryo rambled on thinking of all the things that could have happened to her.

"Ryo… Ryo." Anubis said. "Calm down, your scaring yourself.  Besides Kero and Talon are missing also."

"That's right." Rowen added. "And I'm pretty sure that wherever Sakura is, they are there with her." Ryo calmed down, but didn't look convinced. 

"Look, its getting late." Kento said softly.  "I'm sure she'll turn up tomorrow."

"And then we'll all laugh about how worried we were over nothing." Cale said.

"The best thing for us to do right now is get some rest." Mia said. The others nodded their agreement as they went upstairs to sleep.

Sleep evaded Ryo for a while, but he was finally able to fall asleep. But his dreams were full of nightmares. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Ryo's Dream*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ryo stood looking out across the river and saw Sakura waving cheerfully at him. Ryo jumped across the river to join her.  The two ended up chasing each other with Sakura getting farther and farther ahead. He finally lost sight of her when he heard her scream. 

"Sakura!" he yelled fearful of her safety as he ran harder towards where he had heard the scream. He came across her with her back to him. He ventured closer to her and touched her shoulder.

"Sakura are you okay?" he asked concerned. Sakura whirled around and grabbed his hand in a viselike grip.

"I am, but you won't be." Next he was falling into a black hole Sakura laughing maliciously as he fell. "Sakura!" he called as he fell. "SAKURA!"

Ryo woke up in a cold sweat. Now he was defiantly worried. 

 *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Author's note- Ooooh I am so evil, Here's a nice little cliff hanger for all you readers.  Who is this Alanna girl and who is her master and what does she want with Sakura? You will all find out the answers soon. And remember the more reviews I get the faster the chapters come. ;)


	7. 7 midnight conversations

Ryo decided that he wouldn't be able to sleep for the rest of the night. At least not after _that_ nightmare. Ryo headed downstairs and sat alone in front of the fire that they had going earlier.  It was now just glowing embers as Ryo stared thoughtfully into it.  He pondered the dream.  'It seemed so real' he thought as he shuddered. 'What could have happened to her? Where was she? Was she okay?' Ryo grew more and more worried about her as the night dragged on. He suddenly heard the creaking of floorboards and looked up to see Dais enter the room. 'Great!' he thought sarcastically to himself. 'It's my favorite person.' Even though the warlords had come to the Ronin side, Ryo still held Dais in dislike. He knew Dais still had a thing for Sakura and it never ceased to make him jealous.  But he treated Dais no different from the others, for her sake. 

"Can't sleep either I suppose?" Dais asked as he sat on the chair across from him.

Ryo shook his head. "Too worried." He said. 

"I'm sure that she'll be home by tomorrow." Dais said trying to convince himself.

"I don't know about that." Ryo said softly thinking of their argument earlier that morning. 

"Why do you say that?" Dais questioned.

Dais was the last person Ryo wanted to tell about his and Sakura's fight, but he needed to get it off his shoulders. "We fought, and I said some things that I now regret. I yelled at her, for…for something that wasn't even her fault."

"And you think that just because you two had a fight that she won't ever come back?" Dais asked stunned. "If you think that then you don't know her as well as I thought you did."

Ryo looked up at him shocked. "What?"

"You and I both know that she is the kind of person who doesn't hold a grudge.  Just because you and her had a little disagreement doesn't mean that she's never going to come back." Dais said pointedly.

"You weren't there for it. You don't know how badly I hurt her feelings." Ryo said feeling sorry for himself.

"I didn't have to be." Dais answered. "It's obvious to me and everyone else around here how much that girl loves you. Every time she looks at you her eyes are filled with love. It doesn't matter how much you yelled at her, she'll always be there for you. Because she loves you."

Dais sat back in the chair his speech finished. Ryo thought about everything that Dais had just said to him. 

"Dais," Ryo said softly. 

"Hmm?" Dais replied.

"Thanks." Ryo said as he got up and walked back to his room. The next morning everyone was in the kitchen when Ryo addressed them. 

"I think that it would be in Sakura's best interest if we went out to look for her today." Ryo said. "She's been gone a whole day and I think that we should at least make some kind of effort to find her." Everyone agreed and after eating they left to scout around and ask if anyone had seen her. They met back at the house around three; nobody had seen hide nor hair of Sakura. Just then Yulie, who had been alerted of the situation, ran in through the back door. 

He stood in the doorway panting until he caught his breath, "Hey you guys, I think you better come see this."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sakura had tried all night to free Talon and Kero from the chains, but it was no use. They were just too strong. She sighed at she dropped the heavy chains on the floor. 

"Well guys," she said addressing Talon and Kero. "Looks like we are stuck here for a while." 

Just then the same woman who had been there yesterday, Alanna, walked in through the door.  "It is time for you to meet my master." She said as two burly men following her opened the cell and escorted Sakura through the halls to the throne room.  'Good,' Sakura thought.  'Maybe now I can find out what's going on and who wants to see me so much.'


	8. 8 answered questions

Sakura was roughly brought into the throne room and made to bow in front of a throne occupying a person. The person was hidden in the shadow so it was hard for Sakura to tell anything about him.  Suddenly Alanna spoke.

"My Lady, here is the girl like you requested." Alanna said as she bowed low before the figure. 

'My Lady? It's a girl?' She thought as she was roughly forced into a bow. 

"Ahh. My young captive." The woman said as she stared at Sakura. Shaking off the hands of the guards, Sakura stood up.

"Who are you? And what do you want with me?" she demanded.

The woman looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I really don't think that you're in any position to demand anything of me." She said regally.

Turning to look at Alanna she addressed her "You are sure that Ryo really loves this _thing_?" she said gesturing at Sakura.

Sakura narrowed her eyes as she glared at the woman. Then a thought struck her, how did this woman know of Ryo? Sakura was defiantly sure that she had never seen her before and she was positive that she knew all of his friends. But then again maybe this was a new enemy. Either way she was going to get some answers. 

"Yes, M'Lady." Alanna said bowing nervously. "Faust has brought us scenes of them. Remember? I could show you…"

"Silence!" The woman yelled. Alanna shrank back in fear.

"Who are you and how do you know of Ryo?" Sakura demanded again.  

The woman smirked as she turned to look at Sakura again. "You have no right to question your captor, but I will answer your question. I am Aria, the queen of this domain." She said gesturing around her. 

"And what is the name of this domain?" Sakura asked. 

"The Shadow lands. I'm sure _you of all people have heard of them." Aria said with a smirk. Sakura's eyes widened with shock._

"What!" Sakura screeched. "The shadow lands are not yours! My father owned them and when he died they rightfully reverted to me!" Sakura said defiantly.

"Impossible!" Aria argued. "For these to be your lands, your father would have to be the great Talpa himself."

"He is!" Sakura said straightening her back. 

Aria's eyes widened in shock. "Impossible, I would have known about it." 

"I doubt that," Sakura shot back.  "He didn't spread the news that he had a daughter around. Only a few people knew about it."

"You're lying!" Aria shouted. She finally had a place to rule and extract her revenge on Ryo and now the Shadow lands might not be as available as she originally thought.  

"I can prove it." Sakura stated. 

Aria's eyes narrowed. "How?" 

Sakura took out her mother's necklace and held it in her hand concentrating on it till it glowed blue.  Then she held it up in the air and started drawing a symbol in the air. A symbol that only the descendants of Talpa could draw. It was a magic spell that was placed on the design. Every one knew what it looked like, but only direct descendents could draw it. Aria's eyes widened in shock then narrowed to tiny slits. 'This girl really is the daughter of Talpa as she claims. But no matter, she won't ruin my plans. In fact, this could be useful to me.' She thought as an evil smile graced her red lips. Sakura finished drawing the symbol and smiled smugly.  

"Fine, so you are who you claim to be. But one must wonder why you of all people are with the Ronin warriors?" Aria asked. She already knew the answer to that; it was because she had grown a conscious. That and the attractive leader of the Ronins, Ryo. Thinking of Ryo made her blood boil. 'That jerk!' she would make him pay for what he did to her. 

"That is none of your business." Sakura said haughtily. "But what do you want with Ryo, how do you even know of him?"

"I have known of you beloved Ryo a long time. Longer than even you, little princess." Aria said to her as though talking to a little child. "In fact, we used to be…quite close." She said enjoying the look on Sakura's face. "But I don't need to explain my self or reasons to the likes of you. Take her back to her cell!" she commanded. She gestured to Alanna and the two men that had escorted Sakura to take her away. 

"Wait! I'm not done talking to you!" Sakura yelled. All of her questions didn't have answers and she wanted to know about her and Ryo. Sakura was dragged struggling back to her cell and thrown in. Kero and Talon woke up and moved as close to her as her chains would allow. She petted them absently as she thought about all she had learned. She took the crystal out of her pocket, amazed she still had it. Looking at it she wondered if Aria had been responsible for the robberies on the jewelry stores. She had a sinking suspicion that she did, but why?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ryo and the others ran to the spot that Yulie was leading them. The ended up at the spot where Sakura had been sitting next to the tree looking at the crystal. Yulie pointed to the spot where she had been sitting.

"Look, there are some footprints and there are some paw prints right next to it."

"Look, there are some prints that look like a bird here and there are some prints leading of that direction that are different than these." Cye noticed.

"Those right there must be Kero's and Talon's prints. And I bet they were sitting next to Sakura." Dais said.

"Those other prints surrounding hers must be her attacker. And it looks like she was outnumbered, seven to one." Rowen said.

"Even with Kero and Talon helping, I'm not sure that even Sakura could win with odds like that. Especially if she didn't have a weapon." Cale noted.

Without a word Ryo spun on his heels and turned and strode back to the house. He needed White Blaze and he was at the house. 

"Ryo, where are you going?" Sekhmet called after him. 

Ryo didn't answer, just increased his pace until he broke out into a run. 'Sakura…' he thought desperately. 'I'm coming!' 


	9. 9 hestitant friendships

Ryo made it to the house and burst through the door.

"White Blaze!" he called as he ran through the house. The huge white tiger appeared with a growl behind him.  

"Come on, I need you to help me find Sakura." The tiger roared his agreement as the two headed out the door crashing into the others.  

"Ryo where are you going now?" asked Sage. 

"To find her!" Ryo said. 

"How? The footprints don't go very far before disappearing." Anubis asked.

"That's why I got White Blaze, he can follow the scent." Ryo said energetically.

"Well, we better do it fast." Sage said as he ran after Ryo. "There's a storm coming."

Ryo stopped dead in his tracks. "What!" he asked looking at the sky. Sure enough there were dark clouds approaching. 'CRAP!' Ryo thought as he looked at them.

"Then let's get moving, there's no time to waste." The others followed the desperate Ryo as they headed toward the spot where Yulie had seen the prints.

It was still clear when they got there, but it was starting to get dark. A sure sign of rain.  Pointing to the spot where the prints were he turned to White Blaze.

"Can you pick out Sakura's scent?" White Blaze sniffed around the area and took off running in the direction that the scent had gone. The others followed with White Blaze stopping every now and then to refresh the scent. It soon started to drizzle and the white tiger was starting to lose the scent. The drizzle soon turned into a downpour and White Blaze lost the scent completely. 

"Come on Ryo," protested a shivering Kento. "He lost the scent, there isn't anything else we can do." 

"No!" Ryo protested. "I was so close." He said as he sank to his knees. White Blaze rubbed his arm with his head.

"Don't worry Ryo," Dais said helping him up. "We'll find her, I know it." Ryo looked at him and slowly smiled. 

"Yeah, we will." He said as they headed back to the house.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sakura stared miserably out at the pouring rain. There just had to be a way out the stupid cell. There just _had to be. She heard a noise as she saw Alanna approaching with Faust on her shoulders. She held out a plate between the bars of the cell._

"I thought that you might be hungry." Alanna said meekly.

Sakura took the food gratefully. "Thank you," she said as she gave some to Talon and Kero. She then sat on the bunk and looked at Alanna.

"So can you tell me why you're working for a witch like Aria?" Sakura wondered. She had seen the way Aria treated anyone she considered lower than her and she didn't understand why Alanna seemed to be so faithful to her. 

"Well, she is my aunt." She said simply. 

Sakura looked at her. "Really? I never would have guessed." She said looking shocked. "Well…then… why does she treat you like you are one of her servants?"

Alanna looked down at the floor. "She feels like I owe her." 

"Owe her?" came Sakura's puzzled reply.

"Yes, well you see, my parents died in some kind of accident when I was little, the only other relative I had was my aunt Aria. She took me in, and I think she blames some of her problems on me."

"How old were you when your parents died?" Sakura asked curious. 

"I was seven, she was fifteen" Came the quiet reply.

"So what was her relationship to Ryo?" Sakura asked hoping she would answer. It was killing her that that witch had been with Ryo.

"Well… it was about the time that I came to live with her.  She had met Ryo… somewhere I really don't know, and they had been dating for a long time. Even though they were fifteen things were getting really serious and everyone thought that they were going to get married. But then one day, he broke it off. Just dropped her cold turkey, left her a note saying that things were over. Aria was devastated. She had it bad for him. She kept to herself for like a week, then she got really angry and spiteful. She said that she would get revenge on Ryo for breaking her heart if it was the last thing she did. She's been planning it ever since."

Alanna sat back when she had finished her story.  

"That seems like a petty reason if you ask me." Sakura said crossing her arms.

"To be truthful I agree and she knows I think that, but there really isn't much I can do.  I do owe her a lot." Alanna said weakly.

"So what does she intend to do with me?" Sakura asked.

"Again I don't know, but I doubt it's good." Alanna said sadly.

"Why do you stay with her?" Sakura asked. "I mean your old enough to make a living for yourself."

"I can't" Alanna said with fear in her eyes. "Aria had powerful magic and if I left, who knows what she would do to me." Taking Sakura's empty plate she stood up to leave. "I must go now. I am sorry for all the trouble my aunt has put you through."

"Don't worry about it, and thank you." Sakura said.

Alanna smiled sweetly as she turned and left, Faust flying next to her. 


	10. 10 of peptalks and punishments

Ryo was becoming more and more worried. Sakura had been gone for more than four days. He was beside himself with worry. There had to be a way to find her. White Blaze had lost the trail of her scent and the rain washed away any remaining footprints.  Ryo wandered sadly to the river where she had pushed him in. He smiled wistfully as he remembered her face when he had pulled her in. Then he thought of her face when he had yelled at her.  Gosh he was such a jerk! She didn't deserve to be treated like that. She deserved so much better. He sat down with his back against the tree and thought about their argument. 

(Flashback)

"If I'm going to be such a time monger then maybe we shouldn't be together!"

"Are you breaking up with me?"

"Yeah I guess I am since I'm such a hassle!"

(End flashback)

Ryo put his head in his hands. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't hear Dais approaching beside him.  He looked up as he sat next to him.

"What are you doing way out here?" Dais asked.

"Take a wild guess." Ryo said dismally.

"When are you planning on starting to look for Sakura?" Dais asked suddenly.

"What do you think I've been doing for the past few days?" Ryo asked aggravated.

"Apparently not looking for her." Dais said relaxing against the tree. "Because then you would be out there searching, not sitting here and just thinking about her."

"What do you want me to do?" Ryo yelled jumping to his feet. "White Blaze can't find her scent, the footprints are a dead end, and I have no earthly idea as to where she could possibly be! So if you have any bright ideas as to how I find her let me know!"

"Well I know that you can stop feeling sorry for yourself." Dais answered coldly. "You have been moping around the house and thinking wistfully about her. And then because you two had one stupid fight before she was captured you assume that you're never going to see her again."

Ryo stared at him stunned.

"And then when you finally get an idea as to how to find her, as soon as you hit one snag you throw up your arms and say you can't do it! You need to get over the fact that you yelled at her. Big deal! There isn't one couple who has not had a fight. So just stop obsessing and think of a way to find her!" After saying that, Dais stood up and brushed himself off. "When you finally do come to your senses, come and get me and the others at the house and then we'll help you find your girlfriend." He said as he walked off.

Ryo sat there staring at the ground thinking of what Dais had just said. 'Dais is right,' he thought. 'I've been to busy being despondent over her being gone that I haven't made much of an effort to find her. Oh Sakura, I'm sorry. Don't worry, I'm back now and I promise I won't stop at anything until I find you!' He stood up and looked at the sky. "I'll find you Sakura!" he said out loud as he noticed a familiar looking crow flying away from him. A green medallion hanging around its neck. Ryo looked at the retreating bird. His face getting a determined look, he followed the bird. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Aria was in her room venting out her frustrations. "Ryo! You arrogant jerk, how dare you replace me with…_her_? I won't settle for this. What does she have that I don't? I bet she was the reason you dumped me. No matter, you will soon come to your senses or die." She said with an evil laugh. There was a knock on her door that interrupted her. Throwing open the doors she glared at the men behind it. 

"What!" she demanded.

"We have brought you the crystals that you need, M'Lady." One of the men said cowering as he handed her the quartz crystals. Aria held them up, inspecting them. Then counted them. "There are only nine." She yelled.

"I'm sorry, I tripped and…" another minion groveled.

"Silence! I will not tolerate failure." Aria said raising her hand. Her hand started to glow green and a beam of energy shot at the man on his knees and killed him.

All that was left was a smoldering pile of ashes.  Turning to the frightened others she hissed at them, "Get me one more!" as they hurriedly made their way out the door. Aria took the nine crystals and set them in a special box, along with others. But unlike the ones she was just given, these were filled with something. Aria smirked as she looked at the filled crystal and the strange muted cries coming from them, and spoke to the empty ones. "Soon, you will be filled, and your inhabitants will join them!" she said with a merciless laugh as she placed the crystals in the box.


	11. chapter eleven

Faust noticed that Ryo had started following him after spying on him.  The crow knew that Aria would be mad if Ryo came before she was ready.  She had a special plan and Faust didn't want to be the object of her anger. The crow tried desperately to lose his pursuer by flying faster and faster, dodging this way and that. 

'What is up with this bird?' Ryo thought. 'It's acting really weird, almost as if it knows I'm following it and it doesn't want me to.' Ryo's face grew more determined. The bird flew fast and the terrain soon got rocky, making travel harder for Ryo. He ended up losing the crow because he flew over a cliff and Ryo couldn't get over it in time. He reached the top of the cliff in time to see a faint outline of the retreating crow. Ryo almost gave up, but then noticed were he was.  The Shadow lands.

Ryo stood there shocked. 'I thought we were done with this place. But I have a feeling this is where I'm going to find Sakura.' Ryo would have kept going, but he used his head. 

"If they were able to capture Sakura there must either be a lot or very powerful. I better go get the others." He said aloud as he ran back to the house. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The crow continued flying at his speedy pace till he made it back to Alanna. Perching on her outstretched arm she quickly turned and headed towards the castle. Alanna headed straight for the throne room, knowing that was where Aria spent most of her time. Once inside the throne room, the crow flew over to his master, Aria and perched on the arm of her chair. Taking the medallion off Faust's neck she observed the image of Ryo wallowing in sadness and his determination to find Sakura. She also noticed Ryo following Faust until he got left behind on the cliffs. 

"He's seen Faust and is growing suspicious. There is no time to waste." Aria said. "We must do it now. Bring me the girl!"

Sakura was sitting in her cell when four burly men came and dragged her struggling to Aria. Sakura had a bad feeling that Aria didn't want to talk. Sakura was held tightly in front of Aria's throne. 

"It is now time to extract my revenge." Aria said standing.  She moved over to the box were she had placed the crystals and took out one. Sakura gasped. 

"So you're the one who wants the crystals." Sakura said aloud.

Aria smiled evilly as she made her way over to her. "Yes, I have great need of them."

"What do you plan to do with that?" Sakura asked suddenly fearful not liking the look in Aria's eyes.

"Well, I need to keep you in something." Aria said grinning as she held out her hand over Sakura's head. Her hand started glowing green as did Sakura. Sakura was then glowing green and sucked into the tip of the crystal. Aria looked at the place where Sakura had been and then at her pounding on the inside of the crystal. Aria's eyes smirked and then suddenly changed into shock as the crystal containing Sakura soul started to grow cracks and blue magical energy shot out from the cracks, causing the crystal to break. Sakura glared at Aria who looked at her in surprise. 

"You aren't the only one with magic." Sakura said in a low voice. 

Aria's eyes resumed their victorious look. "No matter, you may have magic also. But it is nowhere near as strong as mine!" and with that she grasped Sakura's arm tightly and sent a surge of her magic through her. Sakura screamed in pain and struggled to loose her grip. Aria held on and soon Sakura's struggles stopped. She was now under Aria's control. Alanna stared at the now glazed over look in Sakura's eyes.

"What happened to her?" she asked trembling.

"Since I couldn't keep her soul in something, I just had to take possession of her mind. It requires so much more magic, but I think I like it this way." Aria said looking happy.

"Yes, I just got the most brilliant idea for Ryo when he gets here. Yes, I will have him fight as I originally planned. But it will be so much sweeter when the person he is fighting… is his girlfriend."


	12. chapter twelve

Ryo had made it back to the others and had told them what he had seen. 

"That crow was flying fast and hard. It was also heading toward the Shadow lands." Ryo said enthusiastically. "If we go there I just know that we'll find Sakura."

The others quickly prepared themselves and charged out the door heading for the Shadow lands. Ryo in the lead. 'I'm coming Sakura!' he thought as they sped through the forest.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Aria walked around her now obedient servant. Sakura stared ahead as Aria chortled with pleasure. 

"Will she really fight against Ryo?" Alanna asked stunned. "I mean she is in love with him."

"She has no memory of him. When I took possession of her, I banished her memories of him far back into her mind where she can never reach them and replaced them with unwavering loyalty to me." Aria said smugly. "I also gave her magic a boost. She is stronger than she was before and has quite a few new abilities. 

Flying in through the window Faust alerted Aria that Ryo and the others were on their way here. 

"He always was a persistent little thing." She said annoyed. "But, he shall just meet his end ahead of time, although I must do something about those friends of his." Aria said heading over to the box filled with the crystals.

"Why?" Alanna asked confused.   
Aria held up all but one of the remaining empty crystals. "I want Ryo to fight her alone." She said as she glowed with a green light and disappeared.

Aria reappeared in front of where Ryo and the others were. They halted; Ryo's face a mixture of surprise and shock.

"Ar…Ar… Aria?" he stuttered.

Aria smiled evilly, "Surprised to see me Honey? You're going to me even more surprised when you see what I have in store for you, Ryo!" Raising her hand she sucked all the other Ronins souls into the crystals that she had with her. Ryo watched as his friends slumped to the ground, lifeless. Aria laughed evilly as she showed him the crystal containing the smaller forms of his friends struggling to get out. 

"What do you want Aria!" Ryo demanded.

"Revenge." She said simply. "I want you to suffer as I did. If you want to save your friends you must come and face me at the Ghost Town." Aria chortled as she vanished leaving a stunned and angry Ryo. 'Now what am I supposed to do? As if it wasn't bad enough that my girlfriend was kidnapped, now my friend's souls are trapped in crystals, by my lunatic ex. As if things can't get worse.' Ryo thought aggravated. Making a quick decision he decided to save his friends first. That way if she needed any help with Sakura they'd be there to back him up, besides how tough could Aria be? IT was Aria, for crying out loud, she never did any kind of physical labor. It never occurred to Ryo that Aria might have gotten someone to fight in her stead. Ryo knew exactly where to go as he headed to the Ghost Town. White Blaze had stayed behind to guard the bodies of his friends. 

Aria reappeared with the now filled crystals and allowed them to see the under her control Sakura. 

"Now, my faithful servant, it is time for you to prove yourself to me." She said.

Sakura turned and looked at her and nodded, "I will do anything you ask my queen." 

"Good, go the Ghost Town and kill Ryo of the Wildfire." Aria commanded. 

Sakura bowed low, "It shall be done." Sakura said. Using one of the new abilities she had received from Aria she vanished and reappeared down in the cell she was originally held in. Freeing Talon and Kero she took them with her. Just in case she needed them for back up.  She then appeared at the Ghost Town reacquainting herself with the familiar place. It was dark and desolate. Building everywhere in bad shape needing much repair. No one had lived there for years and people had made up the stories that it was haunted. Sakura had never believed those stories so she felt no fear as she perched herself atop a crumbled building waiting for Ryo to appear. 


	13. chapter thirteen

Aria stood silently on another building waiting with Sakura for Ryo to make his way here. She knew him well enough to know that he would save his friends first because he would want all the help he could get to save his precious Sakura. 'But this time, if he wants to even think about saving his friends he'll have to kill his girlfriend. And if he doesn't his friends will die along with him.' She laughed quietly as she saw Ryo run into the center circle.

"Aria! I'm here, now let my friends go." Ryo shouted. He looked around trying to locate her. If he knew Aria then she would be around waiting for him so that she could gloat. A mist was starting to cover the ground making it hard for Ryo to see in the already dark town. 

"You will get your friends sweetie when you defeat my servant." She said as she appeared standing on a demolished building above him. Ryo looked wildly around trying to find out where the attack was going to come from. He saw a figure emerge from the mist. He gasped in shock as relief flooded through him. IT was Sakura walking toward him, Kero at her side and Talon on her shoulder. He ran to her and gave her a hug not noticing the absence of the return embrace. 

"Oh, Sakura, I was so worried when you didn't come back home. I looked all over for you. But you have to get out of here. It isn't safe." He said trying to get her out of harms way. 

Sakura stood immobile as Ryo tugged at her hand. She quickly yanked her hand away. Ryo turned to look at her in surprise finally noticing something was wrong.

"Sakura" he said with confusion in his voice. "What's going on?" He asked gazing into her eyes as he backed away in shock. Her eyes weren't there normal beautiful golden color, they were glowing purple. 

"She won't listen to you anymore!" Aria said triumphantly. "She is under my control now! Now my servant,…Attack!"

Sakura leapt at Ryo sword magically appearing in her hand. Ryo dodged drawing his own. 'Now what am I supposed to do?'

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Sakura's POV*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sakura didn't know why her master wanted to destroy this attractive man in front of her, but she wasn't about to disobey orders just because she found the man handsome. Sakura studied him noticing his masculine chest and striking features, but what really caught her attention were those eyes. Those cool blue eyes of his. They seemed so …familiar. When he grabbed her hand she felt warmth spread through her as she quickly pulled her hand away. 

"Sakura" he asked. 'How does he know my name?' Sakura wondered. 'Do I know him?' she didn't have much time to contemplate this when Aria ordered her to attack. Sakura magically called her sword to her and jumped at Ryo sword raised. He blocked as she landed next to him. She took a stab at his sword arm, but he blocked that one also. 'Hm… he has some skill,' she thought. "Let's kick things up a notch." She said as she backed away. Ryo dropped his arm wondering what she was doing now. She kept backing into the shadows, Talon flew off her shoulder circling the air. Kero moved out of the way to watch the fight close by in case Sakura needed help. He didn't understand why his mistress was attacking the man she loved, but he was going to do what he was told for once. Sakura, once covered by shadows, used the added magic she had gotten from Aria and transformed herself into a tiger. She slowly watched the confused warrior and prepared to pounce. With a roar she jumped straight at Ryo. Ryo heard the roar and moved out of the way, Sakura missing his throat by inches. Sakura spun around and slowly stalked toward him. Ryo gazed in shock. 'Kero?' he thought. 'No, it couldn't be, Kero hasn't moved from that spot over there,' then Ryo noticed the blazing violet eyes. "Sakura" he said astonished. 'When did she learn how to do that?' he thought as he evaded another attack. 'I have to get her to listen to me. I also need to go on the offensive, but I don't want to hurt her.' Sakura was charging at him again as he held up his sword to block her attack. Sakura's claws clanged against Ryo's steel sword. Her claws slid off as Ryo swung the sword trying to dislodge her claws. His sword caught her side and she let out a roar of pain. She quickly turned and transformed back into her human state holding her side which was bleeding heavily. Ryo advanced slowly. Sakura glared at him with fire in her violet eyes. 

"Sakura are you okay?" he asked slowly going to her side. Sakura's fierce gaze faltered. 'He's the enemy, why does he care about me so much?' Ryo realized that he was getting through to her.

"Sakura, it's me, Ryo" He said inching forward.  Sakura looked up sharply. "Ry…Ry… Ryo?" she stuttered. 'Where have I heard that name before.' She shook her head. 'It's nothing' she noticed how close he was and put her guard up. "Don't come near me!" she hissed. The connection she had had with the name broken. But Ryo knew that he could still get through to her. He could still save her.


	14. chapter fourteen

"Sakura, I know that you're in there." Ryo said trying to get close to her. "Come on; remember all the things we've gone through?" He pleaded with her to remember. Sakura shook her head fighting the memories that Aria had banished. She caught a glimpse of one. 

(Flashback) 

She was standing on a rock in the middle of the river staring at a young boy with black hair and stunning blue eyes. He lowered his sword and inched toward her

She turned and ran. 

"Wait!" he called after her.

(End Flashback)

Sakura clutched her head. 'No, I have a job to do, I can't be distracted.' And with a firm resolve Sakura pushed the thoughts away. Her now violet eyes flashed dangerously. Ryo noticed that Sakura's eyes turned into their original golden color for a flickering moment before turning violet again. He was getting through, but she was fighting hard. Or rather, Aria's magic was fighting hard. He'd have to do something big to make her remember. Then it hit him. He knew exactly what he was going to do. Getting into a fighting stance he faced Sakura. Aria, still standing across from him on top of the building smiled.

 "He knows there is no other choice but to kill her now." She said to Alanna who had come to the town. She really didn't know why she came, but she wanted to do something to help. Alanna watched the scene unfolding before her. Sakura slightly weak from her wound was in a fighting stance. She wasn't going to lose. 

"I see that you're finally ready to face your fate." Sakura said as she rushed at Ryo. 

Ryo blocked her attack. They both swung their swords with such force that they were knocked out of their hands each left weaponless. Ryo and Sakura glared and locked hands pushing against each other. Ryo now had her where he wanted her. He looked into her angry violet eyes and leaned in. 

"I love you, Sakura!" and with that he kissed her passionately on the lips. Sakura's head exploded with memories. There was the first time she met Ryo, the first time they fought as enemies, the time she saved him from the fire, the time he slapped her to make sure she would be safe, their first kiss. Sakura broke the kiss and knelt on the ground holding her head screaming. Each force in her head was vying for control. Aria's magic was trying desperately to gain back her mind while her memories and feelings for Ryo struggled to get back to their rightful place. Sakura screamed in agony as her head felt like it was going to explode. She fought hard against Aria's magic. Aria was on top the building was seething with rage and fighting to regain control of Sakura's mind. "I will not lose!" she yelled. Alanna looked on trembling unsure what to do. 

"Ryo" Sakura gasped. "Get away before Aria's magic takes control of me again."

 "No, I won't leave you." Ryo said bending down next to her. He looked into her eyes. They were a mixture of violet and gold. She was trying. He grabbed her hand and held on tightly. "I promise, I'll never leave you."

Sakura screamed as a blinding light surrounded them. Suddenly Ryo was in the Armor of the Inferno. Sakura in the white off the shoulders dress. Ryo took hold of both her hands and looked at her. Sakura screamed again as the magic and her memories fought for a place in her head. Ryo leaned in and held her close. 

"Fight it Sakura. Fight it." He said as he leaned in and gave her another heartfelt kiss as he wrapped his arms around her pulling her close. Sakura struggled in his arms and then slowly returned his kiss wrapping her arms around him. Aria screamed in rage. 

"NO! I won't lose, I won't I wo…" she stopped as blinding light of the Armor of the Inferno blasted her.

Sakura and Ryo broke their kiss and looked at each other, Ryo gazing into her once again golden eyes. Sakura had beaten Aria's magic. Ryo hugged Sakura to him tightly. Now that she was back in his arms he wasn't ever going to let her out of his sight again. Alanna silently approached from behind them accompanied by Kero and Talon. She held out the eight crystals containing their friends. 

"Here," she said quietly. "Aria disappeared in that blast of light. These are the crystals containing the souls of your friends." Ryo took them and looked at Sakura. 

"Don't worry," she said reassuringly. "I know what to do."


	15. chapter fifteen

After going back to the castle and grabbing the box containing the other crystals they went to the place where the other Ronins were lying on the ground. Ryo held out the crystals to Sakura and looked expectantly. Sakura took the crystals and threw them with force on the ground. The first crystal shattered and there was a flash of light blue light and Cye was back. He slowly opened his eyes and stood up. 

"Well, that was something new." He said.

Next was Sage, Anubis, Cale, Rowen, and so on down the line. Last was Kento.

"Whoa, what a ride." He said groggily holding his head. "You know, those crystals are a lot smaller than they look."

Everyone laughed. 

"Here Sakura," Alanna said. Alanna had decided to accompany Ryo and her to see if she could help the others in any way.  She held out the box that Aria had kept the other filled crystals in. 

"These are all the people that she has ever taken the soul of. You're the only other one with magic, so you have to break the crystal for them to be freed." Alanna said.

Sakura took the box and opened it.

"Those are a lot of people." Sakura said shocked.

"Well, ya better get crackin'" Kento joked. The others laughed as Sakura got to work. It took them a while, but eventually everyone had been set free of their imprisonment. The group started heading back toward the house, Ryo staying close by Sakura's side. Once back at Mia's house everyone gathered in the living room to talk about all that had happened. 

"So who exactly is this Aria girl?" Cale asked. 

"I can answer that." Sage broke in. "A long time ago, Ryo met a girl named Aria. She was really pretty."

Sakura folded her hands across her chest with a jealous look. 

"She and Ryo had a serious thing going on for a long time. Everyone thought that they were going to get married one day, especially Aria. Then one day Ryo broke up with her. Aria threw the biggest tantrum I have ever seen. She threw a chair out the window she was so mad. She swore that she'd get revenge on Ryo for breaking her heart. Then she just disappeared one day and no one ever saw her again. Well, till now." He finished.

"So why did you break up with her Ryo?" Anubis asked.

"Well, I didn't like her the way that she liked me. I had intended to break up with her sooner, but I kept procrastinating and then she starting assuming that things were getting really serious so eventually I just told her. I couldn't take it anymore. She was just too different from me. We fought a lot of the time that we were together and I knew that I'd never be able to marry her, I just didn't love her." Ryo explained.

"Yeah, that and he was already obsessed with Sakura." Sage smirked.

Ryo blushed and put his arm around Sakura. "Can you blame me?" he asked looking at her. Sakura blushed as she leaned into his embrace.

"So how did you beat her? I mean she did have Sakura under her control and we all know she's an awesome fighter." Dais asked curious.

"Well, that's the funny thing; it was because we had the Armor of the Inferno." Sakura said. 

"But how did you form the Armor of the Inferno without us being there?" Rowen questioned. 

"I think it's because in a way we were there." Anubis answered.

"What?" The group questioned.

"We were trapped inside the crystals and Aria was holding the crystals in her hand so technically we were there." Anubis said.

"He's got a point." Cye agreed.

"It's because of Ryo's love." A familiar voice answered.

"Ancient!" The group said stunned at his sudden appearance.

"Yes, Ryo wanted to save Sakura so much that he inadvertently called on the power of the Armor of the Inferno to help him free her. It is because of Ryo's love for her that he was able to call the Inferno." Ancient explained.

"But I thought that there had to be at least four of us present for Ryo to use the armor." Sage said.

"But there are exceptions to every rule." Ancient said with a knowing smile before disappearing the way he always did.

"I just want you guys to know, that I am really sorry for everything that my aunt has done to you guys." Alanna said quietly. Alanna had followed them home and was sitting on the couch next to Sage who looked quite happy at the seating arrangement. 

"Don't sweat it." Sage answered. "It's not your fault and we don't hold you accountable, and if you need a place to stay, you're welcome to live here with us."

"That would be wonderful." Alanna answered happily. Every one then excused themselves and headed off in different directions. Ryo grabbed Sakura's hand and led her outside. 

"Ryo, where are we going?" she asked as she was tugged along. 

"You'll see," he answered vaguely as he dragged her along behind him.


	16. chapter sixteen

"Ryo! Come on and tell me where you're taking me." Sakura laughed.

"You'll see when we get there." Ryo replied as they moved through the forest. It was a little while longer till they stopped. 

"Now you want to tell me where we are?" Sakura asked.

"Can't you tell?" Ryo asked gesturing around them.

Sakura studied the familiar surroundings. "It's where we first met." She said laughing.

"Yeah, I figured that if we wanted some alone time that this would be a good place to go." He said with a hint of suggestion in his voice.

"What are you saying Ryo?" Sakura teased.

Ryo looked at her and embraced her. Sakura returned his hug with a quizzical look. 

"What was that for?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, Sakura." Ryo said humbly. 

"Whatever in the world for?" Sakura asked truly puzzled.

"For the fight we had before you got captured." He said as he hung his head.

Sakura looked surprised and put her hand under his chin, tilting his head so that he looked into her eyes. "Listen to me, Ryo. Don't beat yourself up about it. It's ok, I know that you didn't mean it, you were just frustrated." She said sweetly.

"But that's no excuse for the things that I said," he finished. "I said some terrible things to you and really hurt your feelings and I'm sorry." He walked and plopped down on a nearby rock. 

Sakura walked over to him and sat down next to him. "All's forgiven." She said. "If anyone should be asking for forgiveness, it should be me." She said as she stood up and walked towards the water.

Ryo looked at her in surprise as she stared at her reflection. "You? Why? You haven't done anything"

Sakura stared at the water sadly avoiding Ryo's gaze. "Yes I have. I allowed myself to get taken control of. I wasn't strong enough to overcome Aria's magic."

"You can't blame yourself for that!" Ryo protested as he walked over to her side. "You tried your best and that's all that matters. Besides, you were able to break free from it." He said.

"With your help, what if you hadn't been there? What if you couldn't break through the hold she had over me. I could have killed you Ryo!"  Sakura said sadly.

"But you loved me enough to break the spell, and that is more important to me than the fact that you tried to kill me." Ryo said as he put his arm around her waist.

"And besides," Sakura added teasingly. "You tried to kill me too." She said pointing to her bandaged side where Ryo's sword had cut her.

"I could never kill you." Ryo said softly leaning forward.

Sakura backed away smiling, "I know, I said you'd try." She said with a laugh. Ryo laughed as he pulled her close.

Ryo looked at her until Sakura stopped laughing. "What?" she asked.

"There's something that I been wanting to ask you for a long time, and now I think is the right time to do it." He said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box.

Ryo bent down on one knee and took Sakura's hand. "Sakura, will you marry me and become my wife?" he asked as he slipped a diamond ring on her finger. 

Sakura gazed in shock at the ring on her finger as a tear slipped down her cheek. "Ryo…I…


	17. chapter seventeen

I… I will" Sakura said happily as Ryo picked her up and spun her around. He set her down and gave her a solid kiss on the lips.

"I love you Sakura." He said as he set her back down on the ground. "More than you'll ever know."

"And I love you, Ryo." Sakura replied. She leaned forward to give him another kiss when a cruel laugh surprised them.

"How sentimental." A familiar voice called out as a person hidden by shadows appeared.

 Ryo stepped protectively in front of Sakura as the sinister form of Aria stepped out of the shadows.

"Well, it seems as though you can love with that cold heart of yours Ryo." Aria said spitefully.

"Are you still not over the fact that it's over between us?" Ryo asked.

"Oh no, I'm way past that," Aria said. "I have a new person to rain my wrath upon." She said glaring at Sakura.

Ryo drew his sword and prepared to fight. "I won't let you hurt Sakura, Aria." He said threateningly. "You'll have to go through me first." He said the light glinting off of his sword. 'I just got her back,' he thought fiercely to himself. 'I won't lose her again!'

Sakura stepped calmly in front of Ryo and pushed his arm down and lowering his sword. "Sakura?"

"Ryo, this is between her and me now, I have to fight her. Please, let me do this on my own." Sakura said never taking her eyes off Aria. 

Ryo sheathed his sword and shot a murderous look at Aria. "I won't be far away and don't be afraid to let me help you, we're a team." 

Sakura looked at him tenderly. "I know. Don't worry this won't take long." She said as she approached Aria. Aria held out her right hand palm up and created a ball of magical energy. It glowed bright green. Sakura did the same thing, hers glowing blue. 

"I seems as though this is going to be a battle of magic and knowledge." Sakura said facing Aria.

Aria smiled evilly, "I wouldn't have it any other way." She said as she threw the ball of magic at Sakura. Sakura jumped avoiding the blast and sent her own sailing at Aria. Aria leapt nimbly out of the way and landed safely on the ground. 

"It looks like this is going to be tougher than I anticipated." Aria said silkily. "You actually have some skill regarding your magic."

"Yes, it seems you do to. But answer me this one question. What happened to you after I broke your spell over me?" Sakura asked. She truly wanted to know. According to Alanna she had been hit with a blast of light from the Armor of the Inferno. That was the same thing that had banished her father; surely Aria wasn't strong enough to withstand the same thing that had gotten rid of him. He was much stronger than her. 

"Need I remind you that I have more magic than you could ever dream of. I can use it to protect myself when necessary." Sakura smiled.

'So that's how she managed to escape, she formed a barrier right before she got hit and once the attack subsided; she teleported out with her magic.' Sakura thought to herself. "Thanks, that was all I wanted to know," she yelled as Sakura sent another volley of attacks at Aria. Aria threw up her barrier shielding herself from Sakura's attacks. Aria then transformed herself into a lion and charged Sakura. Sakura transformed herself into a tiger and charged as well. They met in the middle with a mighty roar. There was a flash of claws and teeth as they bit and scratched, and did everything to injure the other. Ryo watched helpless. Even if he wanted to help there was nothing he could do, trying to break them up now was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. He'd be seriously hurt. Sakura and Aria continued fighting. Aria bit down hard on Sakura's back leg. Rounding on her Sakura hit Aria full in the face with her claws outstretched leaving a nasty slash across Aria's face. Aria screamed in pain and fury and transformed back into a human. 

"Look what you did to my perfect face! You will pay for that you little tart!" She jumped and threw a ball of magic. Sakura transformed back into a human and laughed.

"You call that aiming, I'm over here!" she said.

"I wasn't aiming for you!" Aria said triumphantly. Sakura whirled to see the unsuspecting Ryo about to be hit with the ball of magic. 

Sakura's eyes widened as she concentrated hard on his safety. The ball hit Ryo issuing a cloud of dust. Sakura and Aria stared waiting with bated breath to see of he was ok. The dust cleared to reveal a barrier around Ryo leaving him unharmed. Aria screeched her fury and grabbed Sakura's arm trying once again to make the warrior her slave. 

"You will obey me and kill your little fiancé." She said gripping Sakura's wrist tighter. Sakura fell to her knees screaming from the pain that Aria's magic was causing. 

"Don't try to resist it, you know that it's useless." Aria said giving out a surge of power. Sakura's eyes flashed from golden to violet and back again. Since she had been freed once her resistance was stronger than before, but Aria was taking no chances. She was giving it everything. Ryo watched Aria and charged at her sword raised ready to help Sakura when her voice stopped him in his tracks. 

"Ryo, No, don't touch her whatever you do!" Sakura sent him telepathically.

"Why not? Let me help you." Ryo protested back.

"I'll explain later, but I have to concentrate, just don't touch her!" Sakura pleaded. 

"But.." Ryo protested again.

"Promise me you'll let me do this." Sakura asked.

"But, you… I…" Ryo began

"Say you'll stay out of the way and not get hurt." Sakura repeated.

Ryo stared at her. "But…" he tried again.

"PROMISE ME!" Sakura begged. 

Ryo lowered his sword and watched. 'All right Sakura, I promise, I trust that you know what you're doing.' He said sadly.

Sakura's head was a whirlwind of magic and memories fighting to take control. Her eyes had taken on a violet tint, but were still gold. She was fighting with everything she had. She thought of Ryo, knowing that her love for him would be the thing that saved her. She happened to glance down and saw the diamond ring Ryo had placed on her finger earlier.

(Flashback) 

"Sakura, will you marry me and become my wife?" he asked on one knee.

"I will" she had answered. He picked her up and spun her around. 

"I love you, Sakura"

(End Flashback)

Sakura felt a fresh wave of love and strength come and she emanated with a radiant blue light. She stood up and knocked Aria back.

"It's over Aria!" Sakura said.

Aria stood up and laughed, "No, Sakura, it has barely begun!"


	18. chapter eighteen

Aria chuckled evilly. Sakura stared at her suspiciously.

"What's so funny?" Sakura questioned.

"You are you and your silly little belief that you can beat me." Aria said triumphantly. "I may not be able to take over your mind again, but I'm still much stronger than you are!"

"It takes more than strength to win a fight." Sakura said calmly. "And if you think that you're going to win you are sadly mistaken, so why don't you stop holding back and hit me with everything you have!" 

"If that's the way that you want it, then let it begin," Aria hissed as she issued another ball of magic and held it in her hand.

Ryo stared dumbly at the two fighting females. Aria wasn't fighting with all her strength? Ryo had always been confident in Sakura's fighting abilities, but Aria was defiantly prevailing. It looked like he might need to step in after all. As if reading his mind Sakura turned to Ryo.

"Ryo, don't you dare interfere with this fight." Sakura commanded.

"But, Sakura, you don't just intend to fight her alone do you?" Ryo asked incredulous.

"Yes, I do just intend to." Sakura said. "Please, let me do this," Sakura said firmly.

Giving a sigh Ryo stepped back. "I'm not going to be far," he warned as Sakura turned her full attention back to Aria. Sakura wasn't positive that she could really beat Aria in a battle of strength with just her magic. She might have to use her Armor, but she didn't want to unless it was absolutely necessary.

Aria threw another ball of magic at Sakura, who leapt out of the way and sent one at Aria. Aria blocked it and charged at Sakura grabbing her wrist and sending out a surge of magic. Sakura fought against it and managed to get away from Aria's grip. She then sent a beam of magic at Aria who used her barrier to block her attack. 'If I'm going to hit her with anything, I have to be sneaky so she can't use that barrier.' Sakura thought as she jumped into a tree so she was hidden by the leaves. Sakura formed a ball of magic and closed her hand around it creating a magic type of sword. Aria looked around trying to find her. Once Aria was in close range, Sakura jumped at her magic sword raised. Aria whirled around and grabbed Sakura's arm sending out another surge of magic. Sakura's sword disappeared as she screamed as the foreign magic flowed through her. She once again shook off Aria and stumbled to her feet. 'Why does she keep trying to take control of my mind again?' Sakura wondered. 'She already knows that she can't take control of me anymore' Sakura tried to form another magic orb but dodged another attack by Aria. This was getting serious. Aria kept dodging in and out of Sakura's attacks and grabbing her arm, wrist, what ever she could. Sakura stood up weakly from the last surge of magic Aria had given her. 'I don't get it,' Sakura thought. 'She keeps trying the same thing over and over, but she's never going to win that way.' Sakura opened her hand to form the sword again and gasped in shock when the magic appeared then disappeared almost as instantly as she had summoned it. "What!" she gasped in shock. Sakura's eyes widened on shock as she realized what Aria had been doing. 

"Oh no!" she cried. 

"What? What is it?" Ryo suddenly appeared next to her. 

"I can't form my magic anymore!" Sakura said mournfully.

"What? Why not?" Ryo asked.

"Aria, when she touched me, she wasn't trying to control my mind, she was sucking my magic. That's why she keeps getting stronger and I keep getting weaker." Sakura said through clenched teeth.

Aria walked calmly in front of the two, "I was wondering when you would figure it out." She said. "I've been taking most of your magic this entire battle. I'm surprised you lasted this long. But now, I have almost all of your magic now, you probably don't even have enough for three more energy blasts; while I still have enough to annihilate you and your fiancé." Aria crowed.

But Sakura wasn't beaten yet; she had one last trick that would save her. She hated to use this attack, but since Aria had almost completely drained her, it looked like she didn't have a choice. 


	19. chapter ninteen

Sakura steadied herself for what she was about to do. She hated having to use this attack, but if she didn't Aria would defiantly kill her and then go after Ryo and she couldn't let that happen. 

"Ryo," She said quietly so that Aria couldn't hear. "You have to get away, now!" 

"What?" Ryo asked confused, "I'm not leaving you. Aria drained almost all of your magic; there is no way I'm leaving you now." 

"Ryo, please, I can still win, but I can't if I'm going to be worried about your safety." Sakura pleaded with him. She had to get him to get away. If he didn't he would be caught in her attack on Aria. 

"Sakura, I'm not leaving you!" Ryo said with no argument in his voice. He didn't understand why she wanted him to leave so badly, but he wasn't about to let his soon to be wife fight a battle she almost certainly couldn't win alone. 

"At least go and get up in that tree." Sakura said earnestly. 

"But… Sakura" Ryo started.

"No! Ryo, you don't understand, please, I don't want to hurt you too." Sakura begged.

Ryo looked at her and saw the pleading in her eyes to get away from her. He sighed in frustration and resignation. 

"All, right." He said quietly as he found a nice hiding spot in the tree that Sakura had asked him to sit in.

Sakura gave a sigh of relief, although he wasn't as far as she wanted him to be he was at least out of immediate danger. She'd just have to use her remaining magic to create a temporary barrier around him.  Aria had figured out that Sakura had a plan and was confident it was nothing to worry about. In fact, she couldn't wait to see what her last ditch attempt at survival was. Aria drew closer to the weakened Sakura. 

"Are you ready to die?" Aria asked spitefully. "Because you're about to." Aria gloated as she raised her right hand over her head and started charging up her magic. Sakura glared at her and spoke quietly.

"I'm sorry, but you have already lost this fight. I hate to do this, but you have left me no choice." Sakura reached up and unhooked the crystal that hung around her neck. The crystal her mother had given to her. She held the crystal high in her right hand as Aria charged her magical energy. Sakura knew she'd only have one chance to hit Aria, she better not miss. Aria threw her magical energy at Sakura, who was still holding the crystal in the air. The energy sailed through the air and headed straight for Sakura. Ryo gasped out loud as the energy hit her. When the dust cleared Sakura was still there, holding the crystal up. 

"What!? Why aren't you dead?" She screeched. Sakura looked at her as she carefully aimed the crystal. Her crystal radiated with a bright light blue color. She then threw the crystal at Aria. The crystal made a direct hit and shattered into a million pieces and emitted a blinding white light. Ryo up in the trees felt a pulling sensation as he was blinded, but it soon subsided and the light a few seconds later started to flicker. He then heard a scream of rage and fury as the light dimmed and everything returned to normal. Ryo gazed out of the tree to see Sakura standing ram rod straight staring at the spot Aria had been. Sakura stared at the spot where Aria had stood a few minutes ago, smiled weakly and dropped to the ground. Ryo rushed out of the nearby tree and caught her before she hit the ground. 

"Sakura…Sakura?" he said panic in his voice. 

Sakura's eyes flickered open as she gazed into his eyes. 

"I told you I could do it." She murmured as she slipped into unconsciousness.

"Sakura…SAKURA!" Ryo yelled.  He picked her up bridal style and quickly took her to the house.

'Come on Sakura, don't you dare die on me.' He thought as he quickly made his way home.


	20. chapter twenty

Ryo burst through the door carrying the unconscious Sakura in his arms. 

"Mia! Sage! Anubis!" He shouted. 

Sage, Mia, Anubis, Dias, and Cye came into the living room.

"What Ryo? What in the world are you…Oh my Gosh!" Mia exclaimed as she spied the unconscious Sakura. "What happened to her?" she asked as she rushed over. 

"It's kind of a long story, right now she needs attention." Ryo said.

"Here, bring her upstairs to her room." Dais said in a business like manner. Ryo ran up the stairs and gently placed Sakura on her bed. Anubis came in the room with blankets and a thermometer. After taking her temperature and found that it was normal they sat by her bed and talked. 

"So, you want to tell us what happened to her?" Dais asked accusingly.

"It's really hard to explain, I'm not even sure I know my self and I'd rather wait until everyone is here so I won't have to tell it more than once." Ryo answered.

"Tell what more than once?" Cale asked entering the room with the rest of the group behind him, including Yulie.

"Oh my gosh! What happened to her?" Rowen questioned. Ryo told them all about his proposing, Aria attacking them, and Sakura throwing something that sent out a flash of light, then Aria being gone and Sakura fainting. 

"That's all I know." Ryo said as he looked over at the unconscious Sakura. Her face had turned pale; she looked so weak just lying there. 

"Well I know that this isn't probably the greatest time to ask this, but… did she accept your proposal?" a sheepish Cye asked.

Ryo gave a slight smile, "Look at her finger." He answered. They all turned to look at the glittering diamond on her finger and gave their congrats. 

"So what do we do now?" Sehkmet questioned.

"I think the best thing to do right now is let her get some sleep, she should be okay," Mia said standing up. The others followed suit and filed past Mia one by one until only Ryo, her, and the unconscious Sakura were left in the room.

"Aren't you coming Ryo?" Mia asked gently.

"No," came Ryo's reply. "I'd rather stay here until she wakes up." He answered, his eyes never leaving her face.

Mia nodded her head in agreement and slowly closed the door leaving Ryo alone with Sakura. Ryo reached out and took hold of the cold hand of his fiancé. 

"Please wake up soon, Sakura" he murmured as he lay his head down on the bed and fell asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*(Three Days Later)~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sakura's eyes fluttered open as she awoke from her unconscious state. Ryo's face immediately appeared in her line of vision. 

"Sakura, you're all right." He said cheerfully.

"Yeah," she answered him weakly. "How long have I been asleep?" she questioned sitting up.

"About three days," Ryo answered.

"Really?" Sakura asked surprised. "I thought my last attack was more powerful than three days." She muttered to herself.

"What do you mean by that?" Ryo asked confused.

"Long story." She answered. 

"Then we'll wait until you're fully recovered until we bombard you with questions." Ryo joked.

Sakura smiled appreciatively. "Thanks, and I promise that I will tell you everything that you want to know, I'm still just a little tired." She said in between yawns.

Ryo laughed. "As long as I know that you're okay, that's all that matters to me." He said as Sakura lay back down and fell into a deep sleep.


	21. chapter twenty one

It was later the next morning when Sakura finally ventured out of her room escorted by an overly protective Ryo. They made their way into the living room where everyone else, including Alanna, were sitting everywhere having a discussion about nothing in particular.

"Hey guys." Sakura said upon entering the room. Everyone spun around to see Sakura walk in.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" asked Cye.

"Much better, thank you." Sakura answered sitting down on the love seat, Ryo taking a place next to her.

"You were out for quite a while. We were starting to wonder if you were ever going to wake up." Kento joked.

"Yeah, normally, I'm asleep much longer than three days, at least after that last attack I should have been out for at least a week." Sakura admitted.

"Which brings us to the question, what happened out there?" Cale asked.

"Let's start with the little questions and work our way up shall we?" Sakura asked.

"Fine, first question, why did you tell me not to touch Aria when she was trying to take control of your mind again?" Ryo asked. It was one of the questions that had really been bugging him.

"Because you have no magic, or if you do it's in a very tiny amount." Sakura answered.

"But why would that make such a difference?" Sekhmet questioned.

"Because with the amounts that Aria was putting out, Ryo's body would have absorbed it and it would have been too much for him and it would have killed him." Sakura informed. "It was for his protection."

"Then why didn't it kill you?" Alanna asked.

"Because I have magic, she was forcing her magic into my body which absorbed it then pushed my magic along with hers out enabling her to absorb it and become stronger." Sakura said. Everyone nodded their head in understanding.

"Second question, what was that last attack you did?" Ryo asked. 

" I thought we were saving the big questions for last." Sakura joked.

"I did." He answered 

"Well, this one may take awhile, to put it bluntly, that attack was everything I had including most of my life force." Sakura said.

"You want to run that one by us again?" Sage asked.

"Well, it's a technique that I learned a long time ago. The crystal my mother gave me is a very special one. There are only four like it in the entire world. This crystal is specially made to take a bit of my magic everyday and store it inside the crystal to use in situations that threaten my life. But there is a catch, I have to use all the energy inside the crystal all at once, or not at all."

"Why is that?" Rowen piped up.

"You got me, I don't know myself." Sakura answered with a shrug.

"So, I'm still not sure as to what happened." Anubis said slowly. "How do you get the energy out of the crystal?"

"I have to break it against something." Sakura said. 

"But you still have your crystal." Dais said pointing to where the crystal hung from her neck.

"Yes, but it isn't the same one." Sakura said holding out the crystal for inspection. "Every time I break one, a new one is quickly formed… see?" Sakura demonstrated this by breaking in half the crystal and holding up the broken pieces. The two pieces dissolved and a new crystal suddenly appeared on the chain around Sakura's neck. 

"Cool!" Kento exclaimed.

"So what happens when you need to use the energy inside the crystal?" Anubis asked.

"I must take the crystal off and hold it in the air concentrating all of my energy on it. The crystal will absorb almost all off the energy I have including magic and life force energy, almost like a final charge up, then I throw it at who ever is threatening me and well Ryo saw what happened."

"So with a powerful attack like that at your disposal why not use it all the time?" Alanna inquired.

"Well, for one thing it needs time to charge up. If I threw it after it had only gleaned a day's worth of energy it wouldn't even set a bush on fire. Second of all, the power it grants comes at a price, because the crystal absorbs all of my energy I'm left completely defenseless after I perform the attack. I instantly fall into a deep sleep from lack of energy and am defenseless until I wake up." Sakura informed them. 

"So that's what you meant when you said that you thought that it was more than a three day attack." Ryo concluded. Sakura nodded, "In fact, it should have been longer than a week, because I had the added burden of Ryo to deal with." 

"Me?" Ryo said pointing to himself. "Why would I make a difference" 

"I didn't want you to get caught in the attack, so I created a barrier around you protecting you from the attack. I wouldn't have had to do that if you had left like I asked you to." Sakura said with a look.

Ryo had the graces to look humble then quickly replaced it with determination, "I wouldn't have ever left you alone." He said defiantly.

"I know," she said taking his hand and looking into his eyes. "Thanks" she whispered.

"Hey, no PDA in front of the friends" Cale shouted receiving a laugh from everyone. 


	22. chapter twenty two

"So there is still one thing that I want to know about, what happened to Aria?" Sage asked voicing the question on everyone's mind. 

"Well, that depends on her." Sakura said.

"How does that work?" Cale questioned.

"Well this attack is quite unique; it's a trial by heart." Sakura answered.

"A trial by heart?" Anubis wondered.

"Yes, whenever I throw the crystal at the offending person, it obviously shatters and the pieces create a type of force field around her. Then by judging what is in her heart it will decide her punishment." Sakura said.

"Can you elaborate on that?" Dais asked.

"Well, it will decide whether or not she deserves to be banished or if she deserves death or something else. That's about all I can say on it." Sakura answered.

"So her personality and the choices she makes decide?" Alanna questioned.

"Yes," Sakura answered. 

"Then I guess she got her just desserts." Anubis stated.

Suddenly the clock chimed five.  Mia looked at her watch. 

"Oh man," she said. "I have to get to the store before it closes." She exclaimed as she stood up to leave.

"Yeah, I have some things I need to get done also." Rowen added following Mia out of the room. Everyone else all had something to get done as they left the room till only Alanna, Sage, Ryo and Sakura were left. They sat around talking about nothing in particular when Sage stood up.

"Umm, I have some thing I need to do outside, Alanna, would you come with me?" he asked holding out his hand.

Alanna blushed as she took the outstretched hand, "All right." She said as she followed Sage outside. Sakura looked and Ryo and giggled. "I think that Sage has a thing for Alanna." She stated.

Ryo laughed along with her as he nodded his head. "I think your right." He said as he put his arm around her. "So" he said turning to face her.

"When do you want our wedding to be? I never got a chance to ask before we were interrupted." He said.

"It doesn't really matter to me," Sakura answered snuggling up to him. "As long as we do get married, that's all that is important to me." She said.

Ryo put his hand under her chin and tilted her head up so that he was looking into her eyes. "Have I told you that I love you?" he asked with a smile.

"Only every five minutes since I woke up!" Sakura joked. 

"Well, I do" he said as he leaned forward and gave her a long over due kiss. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Author's note- Hey I hope you all enjoyed the second story and I'm already thinking of ideas for the third one so if any of you have any, please send them my way and I will give credit where it's due. Thanks again to all of you who give reviews they are very much appreciated. I love the feedback that I get from you guys. And if you have any questions concerning the story, be sure to ask and I will answer them. So thanks again!


End file.
